Posts Tagged ‘Ben Silverman’

Here’s a reminder of just how embedded Twitter has become in the whole reality TV media mash.

We’re still two months away from the debut of K-Town, a YouTube reality show centered around some colorful denizens of LA’s Koreatown district. But already, in a press release dispatched in support of an announcement made today at New York’s Internet Week, there are the Twitter handles of all the show’s main participants. They include:

@JASMINECHANG089: A hairstylist who was born and raised in Koreatown. Whether it’s her platinum blond locks or her loud infectious laugh, Jasmine is the undeniable center of attention wherever she goes.

@Scarlet_Chan (pictured): A former exotic dancer who is sexually liberated and not afraid to express it. Scarlet is a self-admitted troublemaker who is introduced to the Koreatown scene by her close friend, Jasmine.

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For all those brands suffering from “arrested ad development,” actors Will Arnett and Jason Bateman (pictured) are ready to help. The DumbDumb.com duo recently received a “Startup of the Year Award” from Forbes magazine and are now getting the AdWeek cover story treatment courtesy of reporter John Ortved.

One of the benefits of interviewing comedians for a story is that it can lead to some memorable quotes. A few paragraphs down page one, Arnett offers this take on why digital ads are aiming for the funny bone: “Unless you’re making the ASPCA commercial with the sad puppies and the Sarah McLachlan music, it’s very difficult to get people to consume through dramatic advertising.” DumbDumb clients include Wrigley’s, Old Navy, Blackberry, and Denny’s:

YouGov’s BrandIndex reported that Denny’s had an impression-score spike from 6.2 to 25.4 in that demo after DumbDumb’s “Always Open” Web series for the chain began in March. (Overseen by Denny’s agency, Gotham, it features comedian David Koechner interviewing funny types, like Sarah Silverman, at a Denny’s in Hollywood.)

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Last night, FishbowlLA attended a swanky bash at Drai’s in Hollywood thrown by Forbes magazine. In honor of the newest Celebrity 100 list and cover story “The New Celebrity Money Makers,” the publication handed out fancy crystal trophies to several members of Tinseltown’s entrepreneurial elite: Bethenny Frankel, Gene Simmons, Khloe Kardashian and DumbDumb.com, the Internet content project of actors Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. (Ben Silverman accepted on behalf of the absent DumbDumb duo.)

One of the first people we ran into was Lewis D’Vorkin, Forbes‘ Chief Product Officer and formerly of Tru/Slant. He told us that Forbes.com currently has an astonishing 700 bloggers and that the plan is to up that total to 900 by the end of the year.

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Ben Silverman, the current co-CEO for NBC Universal who has been rumored for months to be getting the heave-ho, looks poised to re-up in his current power position, the L.A. Times claims.

On Thursday, NBC parent company General Electric Co. added Silverman to the board of the Peacock Equity Fund, a $250-million media investment vehicle owned by NBC Universal and GE Commercial Finance. Earlier in the week, Silverman sat across the table from interviewer-of-the-moguls Charlie Rose to hold forth on the future of digital entertainment, television and advertising.

And then there was a curious item on the New York Post’s Page Six last week that all but left bus tire treads on Katherine Pope, who runs NBC’s in-house TV studio, which produced the network’s failed series “My Own Worst Enemy.”

The item, which many in Hollywood speculated was spin to take the heat off Silverman, blamed Pope for NBC’s struggles in prime time.

Silverman has been engaged in negotiations for a new contract that would extend his tenure as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios beyond June, when his current contract expires. A person close to the situation says a deal could be reached by the end of the year.

Christian Slater’s “My Own Worst Enemy” and Candace Bushnell’s Gotham soaper “Lipstick Jungle” were both yanked by the networks succumbing to Hollywood’s worst disease — bad ratings.

Neither show ever made a mark in the last few months.

NBC, which is having its own internal problems with peripatetic co-chairman Ben Silverman, is trying to restructure its entire line-up. Gone are the days of Thursday night ratings-dominating schedules of “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “ER.”

That means NBC will likely be finding a new chairman of programming.

It’s been reported for weeks now, but our sister site Fishbowl NY now believes that Ben Silverman‘s days as NBC Co-Chairman could really be coming to an end.

It seems everything was riding on Knight Rider (or close to everything), and KITT just didn’t deliver.

Vivi Zigler, the woman who brought you (the marketing for) Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Celebrity Poker, has been promoted yet again within NBC Universal, where she has worked for more than 10 years.

Congratulations, Vivi!

Press release:

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Julian Schnabel’s paintings of bones (used in the credit sequence of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) are on view at Gagosian Gallery, with a preview party last night. Schnabel’s at work on his next film, because he evidently needs no sleep.

Tilda Swinton, Lauren Hutton, Ben Silverman, the Weinsteins, Brett Ratner, and Diane Keaton were sighted.

Fashion icon Lisa Eisner (she owns Sammy Davis Jr.’s wardrobe) and Nicky Hilton both looked great but not together, naturally.

We said hi to Roger Friedman but didn’t recognize David Carr from the NY Times. (We don’t seem to be the only ones.) Gabe Snyder took a smoke break with Schnabel, but we were too busy feeling inept.

We were just about to snap John Waters with our Speed Graphic camera disguised as a phone, when the official photog hissed at us to get out of his way. Waters told us he never watches The Wire, as it’s too depressing, and that he’s delighted for Patty Hearst and her show dog, but no, he’s not making a movie about dog shows.

Outside, the paparazzi were getting soaked.

Who said this?

Sadly, it feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom. But NBC wants to try to keep that prom alive.

Ben Silverman, head of NBC said that.

And he said it about the WGA’s refusal to grant a waiver for the booze-fest that is the Golden Globe Awards, resulting in a cancellation, and a loss of overwhelming prestige for his network.

He’s a genius.

“Dick Cheney Is Still A War Criminal, Hilary Clinton Is Still Satan And I’m Back On the Radio”: Shock-Jock Don Imus tried to say little has changed in the time between his firing from CBS eight months ago to his return to the air, on ABC, today. But that would give short shrift to his two new token, er, supporting cast members, black comedians Karith Foster and Tony Powell.

No TCA Tour? The Television Critics Association president Dave Walker of New Orleans’ Times-Picayune, says if the strike doesn’t end by Dec. 14, there might not be any point to holding the annual razzle-dazzle show.

Reveille or Revolting? First Ben Silverman selects NBC shows from his own production company, Reveille, then he makes arrangements to sell the wildly successful company for $100 million to $150 million to a London-based firm owned by Elisabeth Murdoch, the daughter of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Doesn’t seem fishy at all.